Museum Provenance

Viewing cherry blossoms in early spring was deemed such a transcendently beautiful experience, the Japanese gave it a name, hanami. Washington, D.C. and the Smithsonian began the celebration of cherry blossoms in the early 1900s when the trees that now line the nearby Tidal Basin were given to the United States by Japan. The breathtaking collection on these pages celebrates these enduring symbols of renewal while evoking the motifs of many print, painted and ceramic artworks in our Freer Gallery of Art.

Every Smithsonian purchase will arrive with a museum provenance card explaining how it is adapted from or
inspired by an object or objects in our collection.